Method of producing blasting charges in which liquid air is used.



A. KOWASTCH. METHOD OF PRODUCING BLASTING CHARGES IN WHICH uoum ALB IS usao APPLICATION HLED NOV- 29, I9I3.

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A. KOWASTCH. METHOD OF PRODUCING BLASTING CHARGES IN WHICH LIQUID AIR IS USED.

APPLICATION men Nov. 29. 1913.

Patented 20, 1517.

2 sHEETs-sHE 2.

' To an whom it may c0n'cem: 3 Be it known that I, Annnosn y-Blasting Used, of which the following is, a specifica- AMBROSE KOWASTCH,.

S re as car or new Yoax, N. Y.

ms'rrroh or raon vcmc. BLASTING oneness IN wrrrcn meow era rs USED.

Application filed November 2 KowAs'rCH,

a subject of the Kingof Prussia and German Emperor, of 522 East One Hundred and Fiftyninth street, New York, State of New York,

United States of America, mining-engineer,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Producing Charges in: which Liquid Air is tion; f

My invention relates to imprpvements in the method of producing blasting'ch'arges and to devicesior carryingout this method.

.' 'It is known in the'art to use liquid airor other liquefiedgases-ior producing blasting charges. However, the" known processes jjneed being improved inorder to avoid. cer-' tain difliculties which arise in, trying to make attempted to said methodfit for practicalpurposes. No'w, the process. forming the object/of the present invention intends to thoroughly obviate the drawbacks and dificulties abo've -ref erred to.

to; an oldprpcess has been" use for blasting purposes car: were" prepared by immersing jAcc'ording.

tridges which a mater l conta1n1ng carbon. (that is a carbon carri er) into an opencan .or receptacle filled with'liquid air. This knownmethod,

however, has very considerable disadvantages, themost important of which is firstly the danger involved in the manufacture of 'provide fora proper e bore hole, as the gases or vapors escaping from the ca'rtri'dge .ejected any ordinary closure.

These drawbacks are 'obviated by the present invention accordm to which the cartridges are prepared outside the bore hole while being protected, against fire and so secured are introduced'into the bore hole, a venting passage or port. .bein provided in the closure or tanipingdevice t rough which the vapors are allowed to es'cape,-or the tuhe fol-introducing the blasting charge serves to this purpose, or, after-having been pulled.

out, said tube lea'ves'back a suitable opening for escape of said gases.

- For producing the blasting charge according to the present 5'5 method suitable devices and one or several vessels or containers filled with. liq uidair are used, said veswls or com Specification of Letters Patent.

serves for centrally guiding with safety valves.

The; accompanying drawings illustrate rneans for carryin out the method accordmg to the present invention. 1

Figure '1 isasectlon through a container and 5 show the apparatus inlits the'bore hole and in the discharge position, and Fig. 6 illustrates an arrangement for simultaneously charging several bore holes.

' In order to prepare the cartridge in front of the bore hole according to the present method, whereafter the cartridge 15 introduced into the bore hole, the following apparatus 'iiiay be used?- For preparing the blasting charge,- one or more reservoirs 1 which are well insulated and provided with safetywalves are filled with liquid air. The opening of each reservoir is provided with a sheet metal extension 2 as securlty against fire, a furthfintube cartridge containing the- Ba aam. so, we. 9,1913. seriai'naaoasse. a

. tainers being welllinsulated. and provided filled with liquid air and a cartridge 1m- .Flg. 3 shows a charginfg reservoir in side rel 3 for protecting the cartridge against fire j being arranged inside thecxtens'ion- 2. This tube 3 1s taken out cartridge at, the latter bcing tirst brought into the position shown in dotted lincsand then carried together with the protective tube 3 tothe bore hole. tubewhich grip's'and firmly helds'the cartridge. In this tube 6 a tube, rod or the likeniay be introduced for 'ejecting'the cartridge. A disk 7 arranged upon the tube 6 the cartridge. For the easy manipulation of the tubc3 andthe cartridge 4 a handle 8 may be provided. For the automatic openingand closing of the reservoir or container, there is provided a flap valvelO which is acted upon by a counterweight 9. When the cartridge is introduced into the liquid air containcr it presses the flap valve 10 downwardly, whereby the vessel is the cartridge 4 is removcd, the open-- automatically closed by the flap valve ing is the counterweight 9.

10 under the action of The upper openings-are opened and closed by means of flaps or Fig.- 2 shows the arrangement Wltl'l'ln.tll6.

slides 12.

G is a ventilating"- together with the charged i automatically opened. I

iii

The tube 13 serves also cartridge and for introdnciughquld air Into Said tube 16 ale of a blasting charge. Infront of 'cartridge 13 there is arranged the tamp-.

material or closure 1% which may be t2. nping flour, gravel or ing material or closure tube 13, which serves for leading away the products of vaporization from the cartridge. for holding the the cartridge. l5'is a disk surrounding the tube 13 said disk servin Y a 'uide for centering the tube 13, as an obturator for the tamping and also to facilitate the-beating down of the tamping. 16 is a tube intended for acilitating the-holding of the cartridge.

can .be removed before the explosion of the cartridge. Instead of the V pipe li'i a needle'passed through the tamping closure may be used which maintains an opening .1n the tampln A fterthe tamping has been'completed, the needle may be pulled out, whereby a passage is left in thc taniping which serves the same purpose 1 e pipe 13, that is, leads away the gases pors produced in the cartridge, The aping material might also be made per- ..nl or untight for enabling the escape ot the gases or vaporsevolving from the c ;-artridge taking p lace at the permeable or untight portions ofptiretamping. IQurther, my inventitin relates to means by jwhich( any workman might be enabled to fill hole and the cartridges with liquid the bdre air. For this purpose there are suspended close to the borehole one or morereservoirs containing liquid air and communicating with the interior of the bore hole." These reservoirs may be easily fixed in the positi' n. of rest or in purpose therescrvoir. containing liquid air provided with ant'easily detachable holding device which isadjustable and fixable. The reservoir'm, according to Fig. 3, is made of suitable materialand is suitably insulated. The narrow neck 19 is provided with a top flange having a recess, while the cover 2l-is provided with a projection 20'extension pipe is arranged a locking disk clamping provided with a locking pawl, screw, bent brake or similar dev1ce, wh1ch enables the reservoir 18 to be fixed in an desired angular position. The pipe 24 1s secured to reservoir'anr arranged in such,

the like, said tamp-' 1% surrounding thethe discharge positioirandare adapted to be easily excl1anged..., For this,

' bicarbonate,

a manner as to facilitate themanipulation and the fixing oi the reservo1rl8m-anv desired position by means of the locking disk or other device. If necessary a further tubular extension may be fixed tothe pipe 24 for instance for the purpose of charging, from the side, bore holes which are very dif ficult of access. The plug 28 which is inserted into the bore hole is made conicaltso" as to fit bore holes of var ous diameters. The extension pipe 29 of the j.p1p e 25 leaves an escape passage onbeing withdrawn. By tlltmg' over tlie'reservon' the llquld air is,

broughtinto contact'with the metalplatcs (if the closure whereby the vaporizationis in-' creased, so that the pressure inv the reservoir issutliciently raised to force the lique- 'fied gases from the cartridge into the bore-- hole. The pressure admittingthe outer ail-into the liquid air container. a K i T If several bore holes are to be dealt; with at the same time several tubes 30 might be branched off from a distribution pipe 32 supplied by theresewoir 31, as shown in might be also raised by {On preparing aqblas ting charge by the f 'aid of liquid air it was generally supposed I up'to'the present that the blasting mass was to be composed according :to the principles admitted 'for sives. If liquid air, or, for examplelique fied oxygen, is employed, a too high blastin temperature is developed, when no specia preventive means are provided for, said temperature being so high that fire damp and coal dust Inight be ignited by a blownout shot.

a certain quantityof water; old safety. explosives lose properties on containing water-' as loW'as' 5%, safety explosives if liquid air is used still explode perfectly well even when the same. contain 20% of water and more, coal dust.

Itgis important not toadd Now, while the a percentage of directly 'i'vat'er to the carboncarrier, but to bind thewater to'iinfusorial earth or analogous absorbing their blasting '95 producing the actual expl'o- In order to. avoid this drawback it'has been found of advantage to add to the components of the explosive in thecartridge" without igniting fire dampor material andturther to mixsai'd material with the remaining 'i-olnponcnts of the car-.

tridge. .Of course, in safety explosives also substances extinguishing the llamc are "to be adder, as for example common salt, sodium etc. Theaction m": the water is based 'npon its property to freezes ll'l'COIlSCQl/IQIICG of the coldness of the added liquid air whereby 80 calories or units of heat :are bound-for each kilogram of Water; further, the produced ice still cooled to a greater degree. Now, when the explosion takes place, as owing to the inti absorb a rela-' I tively great quantity of heat; first, the water mate mixture of the components the whole mass is penet 'ated by substances saturated with water, the produced ice which is cooled up to a high degree is first liquefied by the blasting flame andis then vaporized. In consequence thereof such a lowering of the temperature of the shot flame is produced that an igniting of fire damp or of coal dust is rendered impossible. T he security of the shot flame might be further enhanced by adding carbon carriers, which contain a certain quantity of water, for example solutions of sugar or meal or pulverized curcuma I troducing suitable gases or liquids in little blasting or detonating-caps, the same result as with ordinary detonating caps or primers.

The latter blasting method, however, has not been successful, because the manufacture of such detonating caps or primers was complicated and the same were not reliable in their action.

Having thus described my invention, wha I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A method of producing blasting charges with the use of liquid air and other liquefied gases, in which the cartridge is prepared outside of the bore hole, consisting in providing means for enabling the evolving gases to escape from the cartridge and means for securing the cartridge against fire, and introducing the cartridge together with said means for securing the cartridge against fire into the bore hole.

2. A method of producing blasting charges with the use of liquid air and other liquefied gases, in which the cartridge is prepared outside of the bore hole, a tube for introducing the blasting charge and means for securing the cartridge against fire being provided, consisting in using said tube for introducing the blasting charge also for the escape of the gases evolving from the cartridge, and introducing the cartridge together with said means for securing the cartridge against fire into the bore hole.

3. A method of producing blasting charges with the use of liquid air and other liquefied gases, in which the cartridge is prepared outside of the bore hole, which consists in providing the cartridge having a tamping material with a vent pipe extending through the tamping material, and inclosing the cartridge during its manufacture in a protecting cover for the purpose of enabling the blasting charge to be safely inserted into the bore hole.

4.. A method of producing blasting charges with the use of liquid air and other liquefied gases in which the cartridge is prepared outside of the bore hole, consisting in providing the tamping material itself with a venting port, and lnclosing the cartridge during its manufacture in a protecting cover for the purpose of enabling the blasting chargesto be safely inserted into the bore hole.

A .method of producing blasting charges, consisting in using liquid air and adding to the blasting mass in the cartridge an enhanced quantity of water, in order to afford a low blasting temperature, so as to prevent blowing out shots from igniting fire damp or coal dust.

6. A method of producing blasting charges, consisting in adding to the blasting charge such kinds of .carbonrarriers, which contain a certain percentage of water, such as a solution of sugar or for example of meal or pulverized-curcuma soaked with water.

7 A method of producing blasting charges consisting in adding water to the cartridge and bringing this water to freezing by addition of liquid air in suitable quantities, for the purpose of lowering the temperature of the shot flame.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

- AMBROSE KOl/VASTCH. Witnesses:

, Jo m Mrr "ERT,

lVoLDnMAa 'HAUIT. 

